Wildflowers From Winter - A Review

Dawn Janis

May 22, 2012

Wildflowers from Winter

Katie Ganshert

Bethany Quinn left her small hometown years ago and has never looked back. When she receives a call from her estranged mother, it draws her back to the small town. Once there, Bethany faces a series of tragedies that force her to remain in town longer than she intended. A unexpected inheritance of farmland puts her at odds with Evan Price, the man who has worked her family's farm for years. Bethany's stubborn disbelief that there is a God who cares threatens to crumble as she spends time around Evan's gentle Christianity. Will the demons of her past drive her away from a God who truly loves and cares for her, or will she be broken and finally set free?

This is an incredible book. I'll admit that it started off rather slow and had me leery of actually enjoying it. But as the pain of Bethany's past is revealed and her hurts come to light, I found myself drawn in further and further into her journey. Grief is something that everyone knows well, and it affects each person differently. The three main characters - Bethany, Evan, and Bethany's friend who is also Evan's sister-in-law Robin - all have different ways of dealing with the grief that affects them. Bethany runs away. Robin secludes herself. And Evan buries himself in work. But the truth that there is life helps each of them through that dark tunnel. I loved the fact that Bethany struggles with some issues that Christians today don't know how to answer. The people who should have helped her have shunned her. Yet it's Evan who relays words of her grandfather that actually find a way to pierce the armor she's surrounded her heart in. That and a tiny baby.

I highly recommend this book. Katie Ganshert is a new author and I look forward to reading more of her work. For a debut novel, this one rocks!

I received this book for free from the publisher, Waterbrook Multnomah's Blogging for Books program. I was not required to like the book only to give my honest opinion of it. My thoughts and opinions are my own.